Olympics FD to be named soon
Barbara Cassani, chairman of London's 2012 Olympic bid committee, is set to announce the crucial appointment of finance director in the next few days.
Link: Olympian FD needed for 2012 bid
A spokesman for the 2012 bid said internal discussions were still going on, but that an announcement was expected within days.
Although on a smaller scale, the 2012 bid finance chief will look to emulate David Leather, who was FD and deputy chief executive of last year’s highly successful and profitable Manchester Commonwealth Games.
Whoever is named will be in charge of around £13m in bid finances, although this would be dwarfed by the actual cost of running the games in the capital city, if the bid were to succeed. In May, culture secretary Tessa Jowell estimating the total cost of hosting the games in London at a staggering £2.4bn.
The executive management team for the 2012 bid is finally taking shape with American import Cassani, the former chief executive of BA’s low cost airline Go, heading up the team.
Last month, founder of the Nectar and Air Miles reward schemes Keith Mills was appointed as chief executive.
London is up against New York, Paris, Madrid, Rio de Janiero, Moscow, Liepzig, Istanbul and Havana for the right to host the games. A further shortlist of cities will be announced in May next year, with the winning city named on 6 July 2005.